By 2014, the average number of connected devices per knowledge worker is expected to reach 3.3, according to the Cisco IBSG Horizons Study released today. And a whopping 95 percent of respondents permit employee-owned devices in some way in the workplace.

Plus, more than three-fourths of IT leaders consider BYOD a gateway to greater business benefits, including increased productivity and greater job satisfaction. So there’s no doubt about it: Work is fast becoming an activity, not a location.

But what does this mean for partners? Opportunity, of course. You’re in the enviable position to leverage Cisco’s new “Your Way” Smart Solutions to provide customers with a holistic approach to BYOD in the workplaces. These solutions are completely scalable, and also address mobility, security, virtualization, and network policy management.

The benefit to your customers, you ask? Cisco IBSG estimates that the annual savings from BYOD range from $300 to $1,300 per employee. Now that can really start to add up!

Virtual desktops are not new to education. Virtual workspaces are. What’s the difference?

The Cisco Virtualization Experience Infrastructure (VXI) delivers virtual workspaces that go beyond traditional classroom desktops to unify virtual desktops, voice, and video. Through VXI, every computer and mobile device can now be a learning resource. Education IT leaders now have the ability to deliver next generation education workspaces, without compromising the user or educational experience, as is common in traditional VDI deployments.

Cisco is partnering with T.H.E Journal, Citrix and NetApp to host a live Twitter Chat on K-12 Next-Gen Learning Environments on May 17, 2012, at Noon, U.S. Pacific Time. We’ll discuss the findings of a recent survey on incorporating next-generation computing devices and mobile learning in K-12 education.

Five years ago, if someone asked if you wanted to BYOD, chances are you would have gently (or not so gently) corrected them, Don’t you mean “B?” In the ever-changing workplace, employees demand that work flex to their style.

Join Cisco at Booth 202 at Citrix Synergy San Francisco, Moscone Center. We will exhibit how Cisco can help turn your desktop virtualization, bring-your-own-device (BYOD), and cloud initiatives into strategic investments that deliver an uncompromised service with greater efficiency, flexibility, and security.

Unable to join in person this year? Follow #citrixsynergy and #powerofU for show highlights. Rumor has it @ciscoDC will be there tweeting in person. Bonus points if you can spot them. Double bonus if you say hello (hint: they bear no resemblance to the logo).

Day Three of Partner Summit kicked off to a bouncing beat: Following a thumping performance by C2C, a group of world champion music DJs, SVP Edison Peres took to the stage to congratulate yesterday’s Olympic trip winners and kick off the day’s theme of Innovation.

He then introduced Padmasree Warrior, CTO and Cisco’s co-leader of Engineering, who opened her presentation with a bold statement: “We are on the verge of the most change this industry has seen in several decades.” She then explained how emerging global economies combined with technology advances are resulting in changing business models, and that the intelligent network is at the heart of innovation.

One such innovation is Cloud Connect, a new software platform the company will soon launch for enhancing cloud deployments, increasing cloud security, and simplifying cloud-based operations. Plus, customers can leverage the software to build applications customized for their own requirements.

But what does all this mean for partners? Why more opportunities, of course. To view Padma’s complete presentation, including a demo of iPad authenticating via Cisco ISE to Cisco Quad, check out the replay on Virtual Partner Summit.

Also check out this video–we spoke with partners today to hear from them what it’s like to be a Cisco partner and what’s standing out for them at this year’s Partner Summit.

And don’t miss today’s other big announcements, including Jabber for Everyone, recaps of several of today’s Business Transformation breakout sessions, how to win an iPad, and more! Read More »

Over a year ago, I blogged about the evolution of Enterprise Desktop environment and what it takes for an IT organization to evaluate a VDI project. Much has changed in a year – there has been an explosion of devices such as smart phones and tablets and employees and C-level executives are increasingly demanding access to corporate networks and data through their personal mobile devices. While it’s proven to be a productivity boon for employees, this consumerization of personal devices in workplace – the phenomenon known as Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) – has forced IT and data center administrators to reconsider everything from network security to bandwidth capacity and is at the forefront of most IT administrators’ business plans.

After listening to a wide variety of customers from many different markets, there is one thing that has become very apparent – it is all about apps, data, and a rich user experience. When it comes to day-to-day collaborative applications such as voice, video, and WebEx, they have to run seamlessly from a variety of devices. In short, the perfect storm of BYOD clients, rich media applications, access methods, and compliance requirements are influencing IT decision makers to re-evaluate their approach to desktop virtualization implementation. Many of our customers are looking for a solution that supports voice/video/collaboration in a VDI environment and asking for help architecting their datacenter, network and end point strategy so that they can accommodate richness of devices and various collaboration applications. While it is important to have a well-designed datacenter, we need to stay focused on user experience in a virtual desktop environment while building architecture that addresses security, management and faster provisioning.

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